Mark Wahlberg Regrets Requesting Pardon for Boston Assault Charge

Photo by Eric Charbonneau / Invision for Lionsgate / AP Images

Mark Wahlberg caused quite the commotion in 2014 when he asked for a pardon related to a 1988 assault and battery charge in Dorchester. The actor now has some regrets over the decision.

During a Q&A session for his new film Deepwater Horizon at the Toronto International Film Festival on Tuesday, Wahlberg admitted that his request to the Massachusetts Parole Board probably wasn’t the best idea, according to The Wrap.

“It was one of those things where it was just kind of presented to me, and if I could’ve done it over again I would never have focused on that or applied,” Wahlberg said.

When he was 16 years old, the actor spent 45 days in a Plymouth jail after he was convicted for beating a man with a wooden club. Wahlberg hoped to have the charge expunged from his record with the pardon request.

While he now has second thoughts on how the situation went down, the star was grateful over the fact that it gave him the opportunity to apologize in person to Hoa Trinh, one of his victims. Wahlberg was accused of blinding Trinh during the incident, although the man claims that the injury occurred long before the confrontation with the actor.

“I was relieved to find out that the injuries to his eye had occurred in the early ’70s and not from the incident that happened that night,” Wahlberg said. “But I was able to meet with him and his wife and his daughter and apologize for those horrific acts. Some good did come out of it.”

Update, September 15: The Associated Press is reporting that Wahlberg will longer be seeking a pardon. A spokesman for the Massachusetts Parole Board told the AP on Thursday that the actor hasn’t responded to a letter inquiring about his petition, so the issue has been closed.